Difference between fairness and equality?

[hdxx]

Could someone please explain the difference between fairness and equality?

Thanks

[Jigsaw]

Hey!

This is probably one of the most common questions students of 3/4 Legal Studies are asking. I was also confused by the difference initially, but hopefully my explanation helps you out.

Fairness is the impartial and just treatment/behaviour without favouritism and discrimination, free from bias and injustice. This often refers to the court practices itself, eg. the a judge must always be impartial and not hold a bias over the accused). Fairness also means that individuals DO NOT need to be treated the same, in fact, a key concept of fairness is that individuals need to be treated differently to ensure fairness.

On the other hand, equality is the concept that people should be equal under the law, and have the same opportunity, without advantage or disadvantage, to present their case. A big part of equality is that people are treated the same (or end up receiving the same outcome). Equality is a part of fairness, but there is more to fairness as explained above.

Hopefully this helped you out a bit.